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Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

CHICAGO — When he heard the reporter was from Detroit, C.J. McCollum knew exactly what to say.

“Detroit Basketball,” he said in mimicking the battle cry made famous by Palace PA announcer John Mason during the Detroit Pistons’ run of dominance in the last decade.

“I’m very familiar with the chant,” McCollum said this afternoon at the NBA predraft combine.

McCollum, a 6-foot-3 point guard from Lehigh, is drawing comparisons to rookie of the year Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers and the Pistons are looking at him as a possible lottery pick. They will likely pick seventh or eighth.

McCollum, 21, said he had an interview scheduled with the Pistons on Friday afternoon. He is familiar with the roster.

“They have a very young team,” McCollum said. “I’m not sure if Brandon Knight is going to be the (point guard) or (shooting guard) for that team.

“They have very good post players. They just took (Andre Drummond) and he’s definitely turned out to be the steal of the draft. “They have (Greg Monroe) so they definitely have strong posts and they may take a guard. They may not, but it will be interesting to see if I work out with them.”

Notebook: Illinois shooting guard Brandon Paul said he has a workout scheduled with the Pistons later this month. Providence shooting guard Ricardo Ledo and North Texas power forward Tony Mitchell said they interviewed with the Pistons on Thursday night and UCLA guard Shabazz Muhammad said he was interviewing with the Pistons tonight. ... Former Pistons great Isiah Thomas, 52, will receive his master’s degree in education from California Berkeley on Sunday.